If you want to look at natives (and who doesn't) you might consider Diploglottis australis which has large, felty compound leaves and tasty fruit, or castanospermum australe, the Moreton Bay chestnut, which has very colourful flowers. Also consider firewheel (Stenocarpus)or tree waratahs (alloxylon) which have nice big red flowers. Tony

Hi Pyewacket2, As you said, the Waterhousia can grow to be much taller than your preferred 6 metres. The only way to restrict its growth effectively is an annual prune which can be a massive job, not to mention hazardous. The Waterhousia also has a very different habit to the Elaeocarpus eumondii, being wide and weepy compared with the narrower, upright habit of the Elaeocarpus. If you want my advice, always select a plant that fits the size limit rather than limiting the plant. Why fight nature? I'd look at maybe downsizing the Elaeoocarpus to save on cost. Smaller plants will establish faster and often catch up to the super advanced stock within a couple of years. The Eleaocarpus will be well worth the wait. It's a much more attractive tree all round in my opinion. Small to medium trees you may find easier to source are Magnolia 'Little Gem', Elaeocarpus reticulatus (Blueberry Ash) or Cupaniopsis anarchardioides (Tuckeroo). Blueberry ash doesn't perform well when planted in lawns and Tuckeroos can vary a bit in size and growth habit. Sorry, I can't comment on root invasion. All trees pose a risk and can make a liar of you. The best you can do is avoid planting too close to services. I hope this helps. Mark

Artie - thank you for your posting - I have seen some of your excellent postings elsewhere too, so your opinion is valuable to me. However, living in Brissie, we are in drought atm, and about to go to level 4 water restrictions (ie; no outside watering AT ALL) - so water will be at a premium. While we do have tanks to maintain the minimal requirements - the trees will need to live largely unattended. Water not withstanding - I think I'm after something a bit bigger. I'd rather go for a tree that is naturally 10-15m within its normal bounds, than hope that a 6-8m tree will excel. But I thank you very much for your thoughts anyway. (I love waterhousias btw - and we already have quite a few of these along some of our creek boundaries) So Mr Tough & beautiful, can you come up with anything else for me? :))

Waterhousea Floribunda is, indeed, a myrtle. Although I havent grown mine from seed, I must say that it took a considerable amount of time (6 months, by my estimate) to take off, but now shows every sign of being the tree that it will one day become. Some of my Syzygium and Acmena myrtles are showing signs of stress in the Rocky summer, but the WF cant seem to get enough of it. Good luck with your propagation endeavours.